Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been researching the DIY styrofoam backgrounds and they seem pretty straight forward. My plan is to take a 55gallon tank and do the background, 2 sides, & a platform projection from the wall. My question is would this work for a turtle as far as durability? Also, has anyone played with this technique and formed platforms and such out of it. Thanks for any help...

I've formed platforms by sticking pieces of slate into Great Stuff foam while it's still soft. On the one I did this way, I put the slate in the background, and taped it to the glass on the side of the aquarium, to keep it more or less level. I sloped it a little bit so water would drip off it to help form a waterfall in mine. Then when the background dried, I ran more foam along the edge of the slate on the side, and it cured hard in place. I used a pretty small piece of slate for this, but I'm sure you could do the same thing with larger pieces.

I don't know about durability for turtles. Most of the backgrounds I see are covered in silicone and some type of dirt. I wouldn't do this for turtles. I think if I were using it in an aquatic setup, I'd coat it in either concrete fortifier (Google Flevopol terrarium background- they use them in Europe a bit more than here in the states), which would dry very hard, or I'd do it with a cement coating, rather than silicone & a loose substrate. Here's a great article on it- http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_aquarium_background.php
The only issue I have with it is it doesn't encourage you to TEST THE PH OF YOUR WATER before putting anything in it. Cement is crushed limestone and will leach TONS of lime into your water, wreaking havoc on pH. Please please please make sure you let the cement cure enough that it's not still leaking tons of pH into your water, and hurting your turtles. You can take a small sample of water in to most any pet store and they'll do a pH test for you, or you can buy a pH test kit yourself under $10. I'd make the investment and buy it. If you do, get the liquid kit where you mix a couple drops of a chemical with a vial of water, instead of pH strips- it's more accurate this way.

Good luck! Let us know how everything turns out.
Ronnie Nocera

Thank you very much... I've read articles that use quickcrete i guess you'd call it. That was my plan, but I like the idea of running a bead of great stuff under the ledge because I've used that stuff and I KNOW it dries hard. I've also read that once the concret is dried and backgound is in place, the repetitive filling and emptying of the water will lower the pH to a safe level. Is this true or do I need to do something else. I have a pH test kit that we use for the pool so that will be what I use to test the water.

Forgot to mention...

I don't keep fish but do frequent a couple of DIY sections on fish forums. I learn a lot from these places.

A few people have built foam backgrounds and coated them with Drylok, a cement based paint, instead of grout or thinned concrete. All have said it is easier and less messy than concrete and does not have the same PH issues.

Drylok can be tinted and stained like regular concrete.

Concrete or grout does have an advantage when trying to build thickness.

Another easy method is to just use an acrylic bonding additive (for concrete) sprayed on the foam and then throw sand and powdered concrete dye in as it dries.

Or Drylok and then the acrylic and powder.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I believe a platform will work without support, depending on how big it is. I would make sure to offer it support, however.

Let's say you want the platform to start 5" off the bottom of the tank. I would run a lay of 2" foam up the wals for 5" and then set your platform on top of that. I would also put it in a corner so it's supported by both the sides and the back. Use polyurethane glue or foam panel adhesive and skewer the platform into the back and side. Then sandwhich more wall material over that.

I would also cut some scrap piece to act as corbels underneath the platform. Corbels are the support structures you see holding up counterop overhangs, etc. They look like this:

They should also be attached with adhesive and skewers. And obviously carve them in a way that they blend in.

If you want to add another layer of support then you can put down a layer of the larger weave fiberglass cloth made for synthetic stucco. It is primarily available in 12" wide rolls but I think I have seen 12x12 sections sold for stucco repair as well. Assuming you don't need an entire roll I would look for smaller sections like that.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Great, sounds good. Montecristo will love it, I will post pictures as I complete it, I'm in college so I will start workin' on it in December when I get outta school for a while. thx for your help guys

To clarify what I meant by "without support", I mean I think a ledge will hold up with adding some sort of wood or glass structure to the tank itself before adding the foam.

It will need support, but I think support made from more foam will be sufficient. If you take a study break you could probably build a quick mockup of just foam glued together. Just set books or whatever on it and see if it holds up.

Study hard and enjoy your upcoming break.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I you want, let me know how far you want this platform to stick out and I'll test it for you.

What I'll do is take your desired measurement and double it and add 1". I'll suspend that across two blocks and add water bottles and get an idea of how strong it is. Since I'll have to support it at each end it will need to be doubled to get a close representation. I have plenty of 2" extruded polystyrene so it's something I can do easy.

I don't have any of the typical white beaded styrofoam.

What is the max size of the turtle species you keep? In weight if you can.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

The species I have currently is a male yellow bellied slider. he is only about the size of my fist and "maybe" weighs a pound. I plan to get an additional turtle but as of now nothing else. I am looking at doing this to my 55 gallon tank and have the platform off to the right side supported by three sides. the length of the platform is estimated at around 14-15 inches. I want it to be about a third of the length of the cage. thx for any help you can give me... appreciate it, for some reason I tend to let my mind wander when exams approach. Last year I thought of an Iguana cage design. Herps are a good mind reliever when brain hurts from BioChem. thx again for everyones help... I plan to start dabbeling Dec 10, first thing i have to do is buy a good filter so I can see just how I'm gonna have to fabricate the wall and what not...

Good luck with Biochem. That was a miserable semester for me. The professor was a former dean who had resigned so he could go back to teaching. By his own admission he was rusty and he ended up getting pressure from the department to come up with a massive grading curve as too many grad students were below their grade requirements. A bunch of the department was still upset because their grad students then did not have a good base of biochem. It was a disaster.

I actually thought some of the topics were interesting but learned little that semester.

Could you maybe put together a quick sketch in paint or something and send it to me or post it here? I'm not exactly sure if I have your design visualized properly and want to make sure I duplicate your setup correctly.

Also, if you can't find the larger weave fiberglass mesh for your project you could just use multiple strips of the fiberglass mesh tape. I'd hate to see you buy a whole roll of the 12" mesh and have a buch leftover.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

>>I you want, let me know how far you want this platform to stick out and I'll test it for you.

This must be a new feature of Harper Labs....

I have some plans that need testing let me get my book...

LOL
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile
Specializing in Boa Morph's

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

You'll have to wait, my lab coat is at the cleaners. LOL.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

this is what I have drawn up. very rough draft, this is the basic idea that I'm dealing with right now with the platform attached at the three adjacent walls.

Okay, will there there be foam panels supporting the platform from underneath?

And the platform itself will be about 12x12, correct?
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

that is roughly the correct size... and as far as the foam to support...??? idk, that was my question. I've never worked with the stuff and i don't know what is necessary and what is overkill.

and as far as the foam to support...??? idk, that was my question.

Let me ask that another way. Were you hoping to have any rockwork underwater or would you prefer most of it to be above the water?

I imagine with a turtle having textured rockwork underwater is not such a good idea. You could probably just put in a substantial fillet of silicone and that would be enough.

I think my kid is finally getting tired. Once he's asleep I'll try to set something up.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I started a new thread for you.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1624786,1624786
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback